The prosecution grilled a longtime friend of former Deerfield Beach Commissioner Steve Gonot on Wednesday about their financial dealings as it tried to prove that money from Gonot's mayoral campaign was used illegally to cover personal debts.

The testimony came in the third day of Gonot's corruption trial in Broward County Circuit Court, where he is accused of stealing $5,135 from his campaign account in October 2007, falsifying his campaign report regarding the expenditure, and official misconduct.

Prosecutors claim Gonot, who was going through a divorce at the time, needed the money to cover checks he wrote after his wife cleaned out their joint checking account. They say he only tried to legitimize the expenditure after investigators began looking into the transaction in February 2008.

The defense contends the intended purchase of computers, office equipment and printed campaign materials was delayed because the campaign was put on hold in the fall of 2007 due to the poor health of Gonot's mother and stepfather. Campaign activities for the mayoral election, scheduled for March 2009, resumed following their deaths in February and April 2008, according to defense attorney Jeffrey Harris.

Gonot asked his friend, Joseph DePrimo, to buy the campaign equipment. DePrimo said Wednesday he would also cash checks Gonot gave him made out to DePrimo's daughter, either giving Gonot the money or holding it for him as "forced savings."

DePrimo said he did not realize that one of those checks — for $5,135 — came from Gonot's mayoral campaign. However, he told Assistant State Attorney David Schulson he did not give Gonot any money from that check.

DePrimo did testify that he hadn't bought anything at the time the check was cashed, even though the campaign report Gonot filed said the expenditure was a "supplies and equipment reimbursement." The campaign report also lists the amount differently, as $5,200, and says the payment was made to DePrimo, while the check was made out to DePrimo's daughter.

At the time, Gonot was working for PMG Associates, a firm owned by Gonot's sister-in-law, Kathy Gonot. His brother, Philip Gonot, testified about a system set up at his brother's request where Gonot would be paid for some of his work through checks made out to one of DePrimo's daughters. He said his brother was using those checks as his forced savings.

Gonot's son, also named Stephen, testified that he used one of the computers purchased for his personal use. He said it was eventually intended to be used for the campaign that never got off the ground.

The trial is scheduled to continue Friday afternoon with the defense beginning to call its witnesses. The case is expected to go to the jury on Monday.